Broken Freedom
by Shiroi mahotsukai
Summary: After a mission gone wrong Section Six is tasked with defending the TSAB from a hostile enemy invasion, in in the middle of this one lost soul seeks its freedom. Rated T for later violence.
1. Darkness and Pain

Broken Freedom

Chapter One: Darkness and pain

The winds were strong; they whipped the waves beneath me into tattered shreds and frigid froth. In nothing but my sleeveless barrier jacket I felt cold as my golden yellow hair flew behind me, I also felt pain.

Pain is like a disease, a parasite that feeds upon one's body, and like any other disease, it can kill. A slow agonizing death; a swift painless one, those were the two choices awaiting me.

I could continue to resist, to fight against the pain that threatened to consume me, my red-stained arms were numb and hanging at my side, all that kept me up was the iron-hard determination I felt, the longing to return home was the one thing that kept me conscious.

The other option was to give in, to surrender myself to the darkness that flickered around the edges of my vision. I could let myself go and plunge down into the infinite depth of the ocean beneath me.

No! I had responsibilities, I had to return, I could deal with this "_This is nothing." _I thought to myself again and again, to no avail. The darkness, albeit slowly was getting closer, crawling across my sight like some kind of insect.

As pain and weakness started to grip my failing body, I couldn't help but thing back on how I wound up in this situation.

I, Fate Testarossa Harlaown, an enforcer for the Time Space Administration Bureau, was sent here to deal with a terrorist group that had attacked a local marine settlement. It was supposed to be a routine neutralization mission, but the blood from numerous wounds trickling down my arms and legs tell otherwise.

I was ambushed in mid-air. My attackers used unidentified weapons of an unknown make, capable of firing strange projectiles reminiscent of Teana Lanster's Cross Mirage. For some reason, Bardiche couldn't sense them and I was pierced through several times, I fear that one may have damaged my heart.

Now, on the verge of death and miles from the nearest human inhabited area, I could do little more than desperately cling for life. I had dispatched an emergency request for assistance to Section Six HQ, but even at maximum speed, they were still hours away.

I clung on to my life through nothing but my own will. The cold felt like iron bands around my chest, constricting my lungs, each shuddering breath was harder to draw than the last.

I gripped Bardiche's handle tighter to support myself, my hands shook as I scanned the dark horizons for any sign of movement, if my mysterious attackers returned I would really be done for.

I knew it was only a matter of time before I succumbed to my wounds. Faces flashed through my mind, Erio, Caro, Vivio, Nanoha! All of Section Six seemed to be looking at me and on every face was the same expression of sadness. One by one the faces vanished until I was all alone again.

Next thing I knew I was falling, falling through a void of infinite nothingness. Above me there shone a pale light, getting fainter as I fell, maybe this was what people who had suffered from near-fatal accidents said they saw.

As I gazed up at that rapidly shrinking pinprick of light, my mind slipped into darkness and I fell away.

A/N: I don't own MGLN, or anything else for that matter.


	2. Flames

Chapter Two: Flames

Flames raged all around me, but I paid them no heed as I ran, my bare feet aching with fatigue, my unclothed body burned with the heat from the fires on both sides. The grass beneath my feet was dead, the trees to either side lifeless and twisted, reaching like skeletal hands towards the sky, grey as ash.

Every nerve in my body screamed at me to run faster, to get away from whatever was behind me. I didn't know who I was or what I was running from, all I knew was that I had to get away. Something behind me was so terrifying that my mind was numb with fear.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't think clearly, I struggled to remember my name, my mission, anything I could. No good. I ran on, my eyes frantically scanning the forest to either side. I caught a small flicker of movement and turned my head to the right. In amidst the dead trees a figure ran, its movements mirrored my own.

The figure turned and looked at me, through the smoke our eyes met and instantly I knew something was strange. I knew this person, I knew their name, it was on the tip of my tongue and yet could I think of it. No! The Figure in the smoke sped up and angled its run to intercept mine, I considered slowing down or stopping, but each time that though crossed my mind fear would take over and I would carry on.

My terror-induced run carried me into a forest clearing. The other person had stopped at the far side; the two of us faced each other across the circular area, surrounded by the dying remnants of what once was a beautiful place.

Everything seemed to fade away, the blackened trees and grass, the haze of smoke that had obscured my vision. Panic registered faintly in the back of my mind, growing stronger as the fear I had felt faded away. I closed my eyes as panic overtook fear and I turned and fled.

I opened my eyes and looked at my surroundings – my nonexistent surroundings – everything was black, my footsteps made no sound and I lost all sense of direction as I ran.

As I adjusted to the situation I was in my panic left me. I was trapped in a dark world with no visible exits, I wasn't sure if I was alone or not. In these circumstances things like my name, my job and even my appearance seemed so insignificant. I cast my eyes around this dark land, turning as I did to view everything around me.

The same figure of shadows followed behind me, slowly advancing towards my back. I turned to face this unknown threat, standing my ground. I thought about something to cover my body, I would not face this person naked. A black outfit instantly materialised around me, it was familiar to me, it belonged to me. I needed a weapon as well, a long handled axe immediately filled my hand, its black bladed head bore a golden-yellow jewel.

The figure stepped out of the darkness and a woman confronted me, blond hair fell to well below her shoulders and her bright red eyes met mine. I stared, everything coming back. I knew who I was, Fate. T. Harlaown, Enforcer. This was me; I was here standing face to face with myself.

"You've realised then?" even the voice was the same as mine.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" I called out my questions, even through the tension I couldn't help but feel the irony of me shouting questions at myself "_Maybe I've gone crazy and I'm hallucinating_" I though, I laughed bitterly to myself.

"I am not you, and as for what I want…well you'll understand soon." she smiled then; it scared to see a smile like that on my own face. "Did you see the flames? Feel the terror you inspire in others?"

"I don't understand, why are you telling me this? Also, what do you mean the fear I inspire in others"

"I am telling you because you are the cause of it. What you have seen here is the future." The smile faded to be replaced by a look of deadly seriousness "Fate, when you lose the one thing that you hold most dear in this world it will break you, it will break you for beyond repair, it will break you worse than it broke your mother."

"I-I-I don't understand." this was shocking, I couldn't understand, here I was listening to a virtual clone of myself telling me I was going to set fire to a forest and be feared by people in the future, it was inconceivable.

"There is no easy way to say this, so I'll be frank. When what you love more than life is taken from you you'll go crazy, berserk. And this is the result, wide area destruction on a huge scale. In this time you're a criminal, wanted for huge property damage and mass murder of civilians." the crooked smile returned to her - or my - face. "You'll be able to plead insanity though, that is what people fear you for. Your back there you know? On the other side of that wood, Burning and killing as you pass by."

I stared in horror, this couldn't be true it couldn't, no matter what happened I would never do anything like this, Nanoha would stop me even if I was crazy.

"_But what if she was gone?" _a small voice in the back of my mind asked me. _"What if they were all gone? Could you hold yourself back then? Even If there was no one to help you, if you were alone...all alone…all alone." _Those two words echoed in my head, rebounding of the inside of my skull.

She laughed then, a mirthless laugh that chilled me to my bones.

"I-I won't it happen, I won't…I won't become like that." My voice was shaking as I pictured myself, bloodstained, bodies all around me.

"How can you stop it? Do you know what the most important thing to you in the world is?"

"I do," My voice gained strength, I calmed my shaking hands "what is most important to me is my comrades, the unit I serve in, the mother who took care of me and the friend who reached out to me when I was on the edge of despair. Those are the things I cherish most!" without realising it my voice had rose. I finished my statement at a shout.

"Yes, I see you understand, there are so many things you hold dear, so many things you could lose. It only takes one, Fate."

I felt the darkness tug at me, I was being pulled away into the blackness around me.

Everything save the two of us was swallowed by darkness. At that moment I was overcome with a sense of loneliness, here I was, standing in a black void with a voice in my head, for I had realised, this couldn't be real, it had to be a dream.

"Just because it's a dream doesn't mean it's not reality you know? But the future isn't set in stone, all you have to do to change it is realize what might lead to an ending you don't want and not make those decisions. It's like those books with multiple endings; each choice affects your outcome, some more so, some less so."

I felt reassured…slightly. I could defiantly avoid the fate awaiting me; I would not become the way I appeared to be here.

"Remember though, the smallest thing, the least significant choice can have huge effects on the future. You have one advantage at least, you know the ending, and I'll show you how you got there. All you have to do is make sure you don't do it again."

I nodded my head; I was trembling again, shaking from head to toe. "Show me, I need to know how to stop this,"

"Very well, the future I will show you,"

I was falling, falling through an empty void, there was no feeling, no sensation of moving, yet I knew I was falling. I felt sick, my head spinning. With a dreadful lurch I stopped and fainted.


End file.
